Northwestern Territory by the Ordinance of 1787, unanimously adopted by the States in Congress; and the entire history of that period, clearly show that it was the settled policy of the nation not to extend, nationalize, or encourage, but to limit, localize, and discourage slavery; and to this policy, which should never have been departed from, the government ought to return.

Resolved, That our fathers ordained the Constitution of the United States in order, among other great national objects, to establish justice, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty, but expressly denied to the federal government, which they created, all constitutional power to deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due legal process.

Resolved, That, in the judgment of this convention, Congress has no more power to make a slave than to make a king; no more power to institute or establish slavery than to institute or establish a monarchy. No such power can be found among those specifically conferred by the Constitution, or derived by any just implication from them.

Resolved, That it is the duty of the federal government to relieve itself from all responsibility for the existence or continuance of slavery wherever the government possesses constitutional authority to legislate on that subject, and is thus responsible for its exist

ence.

Resolved, That the true and in the judgment of this convention the only safe means of preventing the extension of slavery into territory now free is to prohibit its existence in all such territory by an act of Congress.

Resolved, That we accept the issue which the slave power has forced upon us; and to their demand for more slave States and more slave territory our calm but final answer is, no more slave States and no more slave territory. Let the soil of our extensive domains be ever kept free for the hardy pioneers of our own land, and the oppressed and banished of other lands seeking homes of comfort and fields of enterprise in the New World.

Resolved, That the bill lately reported by the committee of eight in the Senate of the United States was no compromise, but an absolute surrender of the rights of the non-slaveholders of all the States; and while we rejoice to know that a measure which, while opening the door for the introduction of slavery into territories now free, would also have opened the door to litigation and strife among the future inhabitants thereof, to the ruin of their peace and prosperity, was defeated in the House of Representatives, its passage in hot haste, by a majority embracing several senators who voted in open violation of the known will of their constituents, should warn the people to see to it that their representatives be not

suffered to betray them.

There must be no more compromises

with slavery; if made, they must be repealed.

Resolved, That we demand freedom and established institutions for our brethren in Oregon, now exposed to hardships, peril, and massacre by the reckless hostility of the slave power to the establishment of free government for free territory, and not only for them, but for our new brethren in New Mexico and California.

And whereas, It is due not only to this occasion, but to the whole people of the United States, that we should declare ourselves on certain other questions of national policy; therefore

Resolved, That we demand cheap postage for the people; a retrenchment of the expenses and patronage of the federal government; the abolition of all unnecessary offices and salaries; and the election by the people of all civil officers in the service of the government, so far as the same may be practicable.

Resolved, That river and harbor improvements, whenever demanded by the safety and convenience of commerce with foreign nations or among the several States, are objects of national concern; and that it is the duty of Congress, in the exercise of its constitutional powers, to provide therefor.

Resolved, That the free grant to actual settlers, in consideration of the expenses they incur in making settlements in the wilderness, which are usually fully equal to their actual cost, and of the public benefits resulting therefrom, of reasonable portions of the public lands, under suitable limitations, is a wise and just measure of public policy which will promote, in various ways, the interests of all the States of this Union; and we therefore recommend it to the favorable consideration of the American people.

Resolved, That the obligations of honor and patriotism require the earliest practicable payment of the national debt; and we are, therefore, in favor of such a tariff of duties as will raise revenue adequate to defray the necessary expenses of the federal government, and to pay annual instalments of our debt, and the interest thereon.

Resolved, That we inscribe on our banner, "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men," and under it will fight on, and fight ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward our exertions.

There was much in this platform which must have made Martin Van Buren wince when he read it. No doubt his candidacy of a party professing such principles was grotesque. Speaking of the Free Soil campaign of 1848, William Allen Butler says: "Mr. Van Buren's name was in it, but not his head nor his heart. Great words were inscribed on its banners:

'Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men.' But they were words of advance and not of strategy, and Mr. Van Buren was too deeply intrenched in his old political notions to utter them in earnest."

Nevertheless his vote in New York exceeded that for Cass, and the division which his candidacy caused defeated the Democratic candidate, as it was intended to do. The canvass was short. On the part of the Whigs it was spirited and confident, while on the Democratic side it was conducted with little hope of success. The early elections showed that the Whigs must carry the country. The number of States which took part in this election was thirty. Florida had been admitted as a State on March 3, 1845; Texas on December 29, 1845; Iowa on December 28, 1846; and Wisconsin on May 29, 1848. For the first time all the electors, except those from Massachusetts, were appointed on one day. This was in accordance with an act passed in 1845, which, by the way, was a party measure, and debated in Congress in an intensely partisan spirit. The act was as follows:

Be it enacted, etc., That the electors of President and Vice-President shall be appointed in each State on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November of the year in which they are to be appointed:

Provided, That each State may by law provide for the filling of any vacancy or vacancies which may occur in its college of elec tors when such college meets to give its electoral vote:

And provided also, When any State shall have held an election for the purpose of choosing electors, and shall fail to make a choice on the day aforesaid, then the electors may be appointed on a subsequent day in such manner as the State may by law provide.

In all the States except New Hampshire and Massachusetts, a plurality was sufficient to effect a choice. New Hampshire gave a majority to Cass over both the others. In Massachusetts there was no choice, and the legislature met and chose the Taylor electors. The aggregate vote at this election was 2,871,906 against 2,698,605, an increase of 173,301 over that of 1844. But of these additional votes 83,609 were cast in the four new States, so that the increase in the old States was but 89,692, or barely three per cent. in four years. This fact proves, not that slight interest was taken in the election, but that the result was foreseen, and

that in many States less effort than usual to poll a full vote was put forth. The count of electoral votes proceeded in the usual manner, and was devoid of incident.

The popular and electoral votes in 1848 were as follows:

XIX

THE DEMOCRATS REUNITED

To a large number of Whigs, the result of their second victory was almost as disappointing as was the administration of Mr. Tyler. Throughout the North the Whig party was anti-slavery, not abolitionist, not even unanimously against slavery extension, but almost everywhere controlled by the anti-slavery sentiment. General Taylor was a Virginian by birth, and a slaveholder. The Southern Whigs supported him willingly; the Northern contingent of the party gave him its vote with misgivings, and with the expectation that he would do nothing to resist "the aggressions of slavery." Fillmore, on the other hand, had a consistent record as an Anti-Slavery man, and was expected to be firm and unyielding, should the circumstances which did occur place him in the position of responsibility. Taylor lived long enough to make it evident that slavery as a political force could not rely upon him to assist it in its struggle with Northern sentiment; Fillmore, on his accession, became an active agent in promoting the "compromise" measures which the Anti-Slavery men abhorred.

To say that the slavery question dominated the politics of the country, from the inauguration of Taylor until the outbreak of the Civil War, is to put the case mildly. It substantially excluded all other topics from consideration. The sketch of the leading events of the time which can be given in this place is necessarily of the most meagre and barren character. Much that excited a powerful influence upon the general history of the country must be omitted altogether, and those events only can be selected which had a certain direct bearing upon our main topic, the presidency. By far the best account hitherto written of the political events from the election of Harrison until secession is to be found in Rhodes's History.

The first session of the Thirty-first Congress was a memora